Strongest Warrior Competition in Watertown

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Picking up huge concrete balls, pushing sleds, deadlifting hundreds of pounds, and pulling trucks. That's what was happening at the Strongest Warrior Competition at the Fairgrounds YMCA on Saturday.

As competitors grunted and testosterone and sweat glistened off their hard bodies in the morning sun, it was all in the name of the Wounded Warriors.

"And this is how we say thank you by testing ourselves trying to push ourselves as hard as they do," said Tracy Stankavage, one of the participants.

This year the competition raised12 thousand dollars, which will be split between the 10th Mountain Division Scholarship Fund and helping 10th Mountain Division soldiers who have been wounded in battle.

Now-retired Fort Drum soldier Michael Schitz knows how those wounds can change someone's life He lost his lower arms in 2007 when an IED hit his vehicle in Afghanistan.

"The heat from the fire was so intense that it stopped me from being able to move and I laid there down, face down in the dirt and I thought that was going to be it for me," said Schlitz.

But that wasn't it for Schlitz. He came to the Wounded Warrior competition to tell his story, he says exercise is one of the things that helped him.

"The more you work out the better life you live, the better you feel and it's no different for these guys out here competing today".